What is the role of the government as described by the article summary? Choose from: * Protecting Property Rights * Maintaining Competition * Providing Public Goods and Services * Redistributing Income * Correcting for Externalities * Stabilizing the Economy 2. What evidence supports your decision? 3. Do you agree or disagree with the proposal? Why? Article 8: Supporters of raising minimum wage point to gender gap in Minnesota. According to the National Women's Law Center, about seven in 10 minimum-wage workers in Minnesota are women. Advocates for raising Minnesota's minimum wage are sharpening their arguments as they await the start of next week's legislative session. Some are now focusing on a pitch that hasn't had much attention: gender. According to the National Women's Law Center, about seven in 10 minimum-wage workers in Minnesota are women. The minimum wage is in the spotlight again this session since the Minnesota House and Senate passed bills that would raise the minimum last year, though they could not reconcile their differences. House Democrats and Gov. Mark Dayton advocate for a $9.50 per hour wage in this session. Some senators call for a lower minimum wage of $7.75 per hour. The St. Paul-based JOBS NOW Coalition, a long-time supporter of a significant bump in the minimum wage, is "trying to draw a short, straight line between women in poverty and all women," trying to align all women behind the drive to raise the minimum wage in Minnesota, says JOBS NOW Coalition executive director Kris Jacobs. It's a matter of fairness, Jacobs says. "Since women are the majority of low-wage workers, raising the minimum wage would help close the persistent gender pay gap," Jacobs argues. "It's shameful: we're still at 80 cents on the dollar, and a major way to get at that is to raise the minimum wage." The pay gap is even more significant for women of color, Jacobs says, quoting research that shows in Minnesota, black women working full time and year-round make only 64 cents and Hispanic women only 55 cents for every dollar paid to their white, non-Hispanic male counterparts." Most minimum-wage workers in Minnesota are paid the federal rate of $7.25 an hour, but some businesses not involved in interstate commerce can pay the state minimum wage of $6.15 an hour. "It's a civil rights and a women's issue for the most part," says Susan Sheridan Tucker, pointing to the gaps. Tucker heads up the League of Women Voters Minnesota, one of nearly 60 groups - nonprofits, labor, and others - who have banded together to support a wage raise. While anti-poverty advocates argue raising the wage is a significant step on the ladder out of poverty, business owners fear the costs and maintain in part that it is not heads of households but teenagers and second-job holders working minimum wage jobs. A new report from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office has added fodder to the discussion. The CBO says a $10.10 minimum wage would lift 900,000 people out of poverty and raise wages for 16.5 million workers but could endanger 500,000 jobs